So it’s been two weeks since I landed in Colorado. I wanted to give a synopsis/summary of those two weeks.
Pindapat & Dana
In regards to food dana, I went out on Pindapat five times within those two weeks. The shortest journey to pindapat locations was a forty minute walk, and the longest was two hours one way on busses. I would have done more had I not had a some very strong allergies that put me in a bit of a coma for five days.
Doing pindapat has been an interesting experience, because every single time I’ve gone out so far, I’ve gotten at least a little bit of food, and a few times more food then I could eat in one day, so I brought it home and saved it in the fridge, which came in handy during my allergy coma.
I was asked to leave one place I had been to before, which was a bit of a blow for me because it brings up some concerns about what happens if every place I try tells me to leave, but that’s kind of part of pindapat life. it’s a very common experience to be asked to leave a corporate owned place.
This is essentially one big experiment for me, to see what works and what doesn’t, to find those hidden gem pindapat places in Denver that will hopefully eventually lead to a regular schedule.
It’s an interesting experience when essentially 3-6 hours of your day center solely around if you are going to get food. It does take up a lot of time, energy, and bandwidth I could be using for other things, but at this early stage It’s part of the journey of growing Maggasekha here in Colorado, because It gets me out in the public and meeting people as well.
I’ve had multiple people ask me things like ” why aren’t you with your brothers in the peace walk?” or ” have they mad it to Washington yet” etc. So the recent peace walks have certainly helped recognition of what a monk is in general society.
I’ve had generally positive interactions for the few people who come up to me. See I typically just stand there with my bowl, eyes downcast and I don’t make eye contact with people unless they are coming up to me. I don’t want to try and force people to feel like they have to come up to me in any way.
I’ve had an experienced tudong/pindapat monk tell me its better to smile and say hello to people as they pass by then to keep eyes downcast, that in western culture it makes more sense, but I’m not exactly sure if that’s the case, for me at least. I probably should be more assertive like that, I may well have to end up being so in the future, who knows.
As for those days I didn’t go out on pindapat, well four days someone brought food to the house, which was greatly appreciated. A supporter from Facebook also gave a general dana that included various needed items for general monastery use, in addition to a number of breakfast items like oats and nuts. The rest of the days I either fasted or ate some of the left over dana from what was given.
I’ve been contemplating about doing a schedule of pindapat every other day, giving one day in-between to rest and not fall behind on responsibilities. Whether I fast or have a little bit of dana in the house will depend on whats available, but it I think it may be the best bet.
Adapting to Altitude and a New Environment
I’ve had multiple locals over the years tell me that it takes about three months for your body to adjust to the higher altitude and lower oxygen. The most I stayed in Colorado for a visit was about two months last year. I certainly notice that I have essentially a mental state equivalent to brain fog. It’s harder to recall things and to think clearly in general. My energy has also not been all that great.
I knew it would take a while to adjust, so i’ve been trying to find a balance between hitting the ground running and trying to do many things to start building Maggasekha, and taking it a bit easy and giving myself some leeway during this adjustment time.
Regarding Allergies, I visited Colorado for near four and a half years before I moved here, but admittedly near every visit was either in November or March/April. I’ve not truly experienced peak allergy season here, but I am now.
For most of my childhood and into early adulthood I had to have weekly allergy shots and yearly testing. I was allergic to many things and always struggled to breathe deeply, or through my nose at all. Thankfully I am nowhere near as allergic to as many things as I was as a child.
Spring time is always the worst for me, for most of my life I had what could be called reverse seasonal depression, meaning I was happiest in cold weather, and once spring and summer came along and my breathing got worse my allergies skyrocketed, I always felt worse mentally and physically. Still to this day I do prefer the cold and my breathing and allergies are worse in spring especially, and less in summer, but I don’t know that I get depressed over it like I used to.
We will have to see how I experience my allergies with this new environment. The “coma” I experienced for five days where I essentially feel like I have the flu and have little energy to do anything , even go for a walk, is something I’m familiar with from my years at Bhavana. Actually I’m susceptible to it whenever I live in a place that doesn’t have a consistent enclosed heating and air conditioning ecosystem, which of course as a monk means most places and most times haha. it is just part of having this body, which in many other ways is an amazing superior body that im very grateful for, so I’m not complaining.
Living/Rental Situation
Generally speaking I am quite happy with the current living arrangements. Khenpo, the senior Tibetan monk who resides here, is very generous and kind, always asking if I want to have lunch(and dinner too, until he understood I dont eat dinner) with him and that I can have anything in the house.
My first thoughts were that I didn’t want to mooch off of him or take any of his Dana ( which admittedly is a very western thought, I know), but also my thought process has been that when I am in a true Maggasekha Vihara, I wont have a wonderful Tibetan monk who cooks every day and wants to offer me food. The other thing is that Khenpo is vegetarian, so I couldn’t rely too heavily on his food either way for what my body needs.
I am thinking in the future I may eat lunch with him twice a week, at the very least to be nice to my generous host and to develop a deeper relationship with him, which I hope to maintain for the years to come. I already think we have hit it off well, there are some cultural differences to understand and worth though, but otherwise there’s been no real friction, and any hesitation has been on my part, not his.
Events and Next Steps
To close out I’ve been contemplating regular events going forward. From here on in every Friday night at the Bodhi Dharma House where I’m living, I’ll be host an in person Dhamma session which will consist of meditation, talk, and Q&A. I doubt anyone will show up for the first number of months, but I will keep this event open and as more people get to know Maggasekha and that the event exists, more people will come over time.
Im also contemplating doing a Wednesday evening Library event at a branch I’ve done them before during visits. It’s more centrally located in denver compared to where I live, so people wont have to do much driving on a weekday evening. Im not exactly sure I’ll be able to reserve a room every week, but these are things to Iron out.
Im also contemplating in the park events. Which part, what day and time? who knows, still figuring it all out.
And of course I do have one consistent Pindapat going forward. I plan to be on Tennyson street (starting at Natural Grocers) every Sunday around 10 or 11 for pindapat. There is also a nice park on the route where if people came we could sit and do a little talking and meditating. It’s a two hour ride on buses one way, but its a very busy place on the weekends and a great location to meet many people and to be seen.
Im planning on making a video about next steps soon, so keep an eye out for that. Now however I think this is good enough, time for me to catch the bus to Far East Center and see if I can get in a successful pindapat today.